Spindle Motor Questions?

[Willyb]

Hi Guys

I have a couple of questions on the Spindle Motor and Controllers that are used on the HAAS Milling machines.

(1) How does the Spindle Motor keep track of the Spindle to stop it in the correct position so that the tags on the Tool Holders line up with the grooves in the Spindle during a tool change?

(2) Also while performing a Rigid Tapping operation how does the Spindle Motor know the position of the tap so that the threads lined up each time the tap enters the hole?

(3) What type of motor is used for the Spindle Motor on the HAAS machines to give it such actuate control for Tapping, etc?

Interested in reading any information that is available on these types of Spindle Motors?

Does HAAS offer any information on there operation?

Thanks for your help with my questions.

Regards
Bill

[JPMach]

1) optical encoder coupled to spindle which then knows the exact posistion of the spindle
2) Same encoder knows spindle location in relation to Z hieght
3)It is a high frequency motor controlled by a haas vector drive, which is bascially a variable frequency motor drive. It can control the spindle speed to one rpm and then the computer matches the feed in Z to the pitch of the tap. A variable freq drive basics are as follows:
A) convert input voltage to DC
B) get speed command from cnc
C) send out ultra high frequency of varying voltages of DC, if you draw a line from the peak of each pulse of dc you get a sign wave, by varying the voltage more you can increase or decrease the frequency of the sine wave ( not just 60 HZ) from around 10 HZ up to 320HZ

Since the output is a simulated three phase. I have a small VFD running my little manual milling machine. I spent about the same amount of money on the vfd as I would have on a static phase converter, but I saved money on the mill by getting a belt head. I then put a remote keypad for the vfd on the front of my mill and now have a variable speed head, since the motor that came with the manual mill is not made for high freq I set limits on the control to only allo freqs from 15 to 75HZ
Works slick.

JP

[Willyb]

Hi JP

Thanks for the help with my questions. I think I have a better understanding of how these spindle drives work.
I am presently converting a manual type bench mill to CNC control and was trying to figure out what I should do with my spindle motor. The original motor is a 1-1/2 hp single phase 110/240 volt which is belted to the spindle. I would like to change the motor to a 3 phase unit and use a VFD so that my software can control the speed and the direction of the spindle. I am not sure it's worth trying to get it setup to do rigid tapping or just use a Tapmatic? What are your thoughts on this? Do you need a special VFD to read the feedback from the spindle optical encoder or should this information go to the software? Thanks again for all your help with my questions. Appreciate it.

Bill

[JPMach]

encoder feedback should go to the software for rigid tapping. The software should read the encoder for the actual speed and then match the feed in z to the pitch of the tap. Your software will have to be able handle rigid tapping otherwise an auto tapper is a good solution mainly because you have to have high feedrates since even at 500 rpm a 13 pitch gives a fast feed in Z and the Z axis first has to be able to go that fast but also instant reverse at the bottom of the hole. If all of this is not accounted for you end up with one of two things: A) Stripped out hole, or B) broken tap.

JP

[Willyb]

Hi JP

Sounds like it might be easier using a Tapmatic for tapping with my cnc Mill.
Thanks again for the help with my questions.

Regards
Bill

[choquer]

I bought my TM1 and TL2 in January of 2004.
I initially set them both up in metric mode only to find that the Haas software at the time was not working properly in Metric. You can imagine how many hours I spent as a newbie scratching my head trying to do something and everything went sideways to what I ecpected.

Also in the newer version they have added the intuitve software for the TM1 which is much more helpful and easier to follow than their quick code .

I just broke down and bought the new OneCNCXR2 so I am excited about being able to make some parts now.

Regards
Don